[Bob Zelin]

I will likely us a Sony JH-3 for digitizing and output to Sony HDW-2000.

Now for the question. Do I need tri-level sync to be able to digitize, output and monitor properly.

REPLY – If I answer your question, when do I get my beer? If you shoot at 59.94 on your HD Cam (29.97 frame rate), there will be no problems with either VTR, and your AJA Kona 2, and you can use your standard cheapo NTSC color black generator (or PAL). If you shoot at 23.98, and you PLAY BACK on a Sony JH-3, or a Sony HDW-F500 with the pulldown option (the JH-3 comes standard with this) – you will have the VTR do the 2:3:3:2 pulldown, and you will have no problems, because even though you shot in 23.98, you are editing at 59.94, and you can use your standard cheapo NTSC black generator. (So far, the answer to your question is that YOU DO NOT need a tri level sync generator). The same answer applies to Panasonic HD VTR’s that come with the 2:3:3:2 pulldown feature as standard (like the HD1200A).

NOW, if you use a mid price Sony HD recorder, like the HDW-M2000/1, or the S280, etc., THESE VTRS DO NOT offer the 2:3:3:2 pulldown as an option, so you must work at 23.98 frame rate, and you will have to rely on something to do the conversion for you. I had AJA explain to me how to output at normal frame rate without buying anything else, but with these mid level recorders from Sony, you will absolutely have to purchase a tri level sync generator, or you can simply operate in FREE RUN (and disconnect all reference from the Sony HDW-M2000/1, and let the blue STOP light flash – but it is still at 23.98, and you will have a hell of a time making a VHS or Digi Beta dub.

THIS IS WHAT I DID – and I know that AJA has a way of not doing it, but
this works. Cobalt Digital makes the 8021 HD converter. You simply take the HD output of the HDW-M2000/1 playing back at 23.98, pass it thru this $3000 converter (cheaper than the tri level sync generator), and it adds the 2:3:3:2 pulldown to the HD signal, so you can input to the Kona 2 (or AVID Adrenaline HD, or anything else) at a normal 59.94 framerate, and you don’t have to deal with any of these frame rate conversion nightmares. As I said, perhaps AJA will contribute here on what they can do without buying anything, but if you INSIST on using the HDW-M2000/1, the Cobalt 8021 will make your problems go away, without buying a tri level sync generator.

Let me add one more variation to this. If you PLAYBACK AND DIGITIZE with the JH-3 (using it’s native 2:3:3:2 pulldown), and now you have a 59.94 HD project, you can simply record back to the HDW-M2000/1 at 59.94, with your cheapo NTSC black generator, and have no problems. The problem is when you ONLY have the HDW-M2000/1 for PLAYBACK AND RECORD, and you have 23.98 tapes, and you have no way of adding in the 2:3 pulldown. That is where you get screwed.

As a final note, the only reason to really have a tri level sync generator is if you want to create a 23.98 MASTER TAPE on the HDW-M2000/1, and then you MUST genlock the entire system to a 23.98 house reference. For most of us in TV Land, all we want to do is create a 59.94 (29.97) master, so we can make a dub to Digi Beta, and in this case, all you need is a cheapo black generator.

Remember, in a pinch, you can simply run with NO REFERENCE SIGNAL, and switch the Kona reference to Free Run, and it will work to.

My advice (unless you need a 23.98 master) – don’t buy a Tri Level sync gen.

Bob Zelin
(sorry this was so long).

[Bob Zelin]

HD and SDI products all support embedded audio – the digital audio travels thru the video cable, along with the HD or SDI video signal.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I am doing this for over 20 years, and recently plugged into the insert inputs instead of the mixer line inputs, and things didn’t work. So the moral is – the more experience you have, the bigger the moron you are, and no one is as big a moron as me. Glad you found the “problem”.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Hey JNeo –

I urge you to contact AJA support or hire an outside engineer or technician to come in and help you at this point. Your reseller sold you $35 cables – hopefully they should be able to send someone in to help you.

The AJA K-Box RCA connectors are analog audio outputs that will output ANALOG audio from your HD or SDI timelines. Right now, simply bring up color bars and tone internally from Final Cut Pro, and let it play out. You should for right now use an EASY SETUP selection, to make sure that your Audio/Video settings are set correctly, and that one of the tabs is not set incorrectly. Take the K-Box RCA outputs, and with the other end of your cable (which better be a 1/4″ stereo phone plug if it’s going into your mixer) – stick this end into one of the line inputs of your audio mixer. When you raise the faders, and you are letting the BARS play on the timeline, you should hear tone.

There are SO MANY VARIABLES that can be wrong without seeing your system. I have done so many silly things myself, like accidentally going into the INSERT INPUTS of the audio mixer, instead of the line inputs, etc. that will prevent you from hearing the audio. If you have a CD or Cassette audio player lying around, try plugging in the RCA connectors that go into the K Box, into a CD player, etc. – just to make sure that the cables are ok, and that you can HEAR the CD player (or cassette player).
Assume nothing.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

the Dell 2405FPW is an excellent monitor. It works well with both Blackmagic HD Link and AJA HDP. It works well with both Blackmagic and AJA products in general. Electronic Arts (the video game people) just bought 150 of these monitors – money is not the issue for them in their game development purposes. I do not “buy” the “Apple picks the best of the bunch” nonsense, as I can assure you that I have seen more bad Hitachi SATA drives in Apple “hand selected” XServe RAID arrays, than any other
source of Hitachi SATA drives, so this “hand picked” stuff is just nonsense.

An excellent alternative to both of these monitors is the Sony SDM-P234b, which cost more than both of them, but is teriffic. (It does not offer video inputs, so you will have to use the Blackmagic HD Link). Another excellent monitor is the HP L2335. Every monitor I mentioned I have tested, and all do 1920×1280 resolution.

If you are an individual, and looking to save money, you can’t beat the Dell 2405FPW.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Greg is correct – I don’t know why – it’s almost like a bug – the Kona 2 will “for some reason” – and there must be a reason – switch to Reference – Video In – by itself. Switch it to external ref (if you have an external ref) or Free Run, and your crackle will go away.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

The Decklink Pro HD and the Kona 2 are both excellent products. Unless you find someone that purchased one of these units from a mail order house, and could not figure out how to set it up, you will probably not find anyone who can say anything negative about either product. They are both teriffic, and both are A HELL of a lot cheaper than anything AVID has to offer. The HD Link is a teriffic product as well.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

The DSR-45 does not have SDI, nor does it have an option for SDI. I am not sure what manual you downloaded, but if it is fact a Sony manual, then there is a typo in the manual you downloaded. You ain’t getting SDI from a DSR-45, no matter what you do.

Most people I know use the component analog signals from the DSR-45 to go in and out of the AJA I/O for FCP. Those that don’t own an AJA I/O are using Firewire.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I don’t believe that the old Kona SD card handled embedded audio. All current AJA products, including the I/O, I/O LA, and Kona 2 ALL handle embedded audio. The Kona 2 allows you to select between AES and embedded audio in the Kona control panel. This did not exist in the older Kona SD card. And no, AJA ain’t gonna write an application for this old card.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

A digital mixer is complete overkill, and unnecessary for your application, as most digital audio signals are handled as embedded audio in the SDI stream these days (for both SDI and HD SDI, for both Panasonic and Sony VTR’s). Actually, if you have the popular Panasonic AJ-HD1200 HD VTR, it does not even offer AES outputs. You will use your mixer for monitoring and routing to analog sources like Beta VTR’s, VHS machines, etc.

If you feel that you REALLY NEED a digital mixer because you want to manually fade the AES audio signal from a VTR into the Kona 2, boards like the Tascam and the more popular Yamaha series (like the 01V, 03D, and 02R) are MUCH more suited than the Graham Patten product, which is an audio switcher that was designed to be an audio follow device for linear edit systems from Grass Valley, Abekas, and Sony. The Graham Patten or Zaxcom audio boards (Sony makes some too) are the WRONG CHOICE for this application. Other manufacturers of small inexpensive digital audio mixers in addition to Yamaha and Tascam, are Mackie and Behringer.

But in the long run, a little Mackie, Soundcraft or Behringer analog audio mixer, so you can simply monitor the outputs, while your actual audio is sent directly via the embedded audio stream, is all you really need, and is what most people are currently doing.

Bob Zelin